祇園大鳥居屏風|The Torii Gate of Gion Shrine

Unknown

early 17th century · Sliding doors (fusama) remounted as a two-panel folding screen; ink, color, and gold on paper · Asian Art

This bird’s-eye view of the entrance to Gion Shrine, known today at Yasaka Shrine, offers a lively scene of seventeenth-century Kyoto. Entering and leaving through the red torii gate are festively clad citizens of various classes. In the street market nearby, vendors enjoy a bustling trade selling fish, rice cakes, and tobacco. Such activities are among the pleasures still associated with visits to the shrine, which is famous for its buildings that assimilate Buddhist temple architecture. The shrine is also recognized for its prominence during the Gion Matsuri, Kyoto’s most important festival. A six-panel screen (Suntory Museum, Tokyo) and two-panel screen (Museum for East Asian Art, Cologne) depicting the festival and its setting matches The Met screen in figure style, composition, and treatment of landscape and cloud patterns, indicating that this painting was once part of a llarger painted sliding-door composition.

Artist

Unknown

Date

early 17th century

Medium

Sliding doors (fusama) remounted as a two-panel folding screen; ink, color, and gold on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Gift of A. I. Sherr, 1960